Words, winging swift and sure to their mark. They hit with a power that splinters, shatters, crushes and often forever scars. Careless or purposeful, they ring in your ears again and again and again. They echo in your head and you wish you could silence them, but they've done their work. Temporarily you shut them out, but never locked away for good, and at least from time to time they shoot to the front of your thoughts and remind you. Many a soothing balm is applied to the wound, efforts to remove the scar, to so thoroughly erase it that it makes it so it was never there, or at least it lessens the visibility because you so desperately want it not to be. Some will heal, others never will. Harsh, condemning, bitter, sarcastic, reckless, imprudent, unmindful, careless, senseless...whatever the reason behind them, or lack thereof, they do no good, and, far worse, they do damage. Do you think about the words you throw? When you hurl them do they have an aim? Why shoot them when you don't, and don't know the destruction they may do? Why take that aim if when you hit the target you may cause a blow that is bound to be markedly painful if not fatal? Once discharged they lie unfettered and cannot be rebound, you let them loose and they can never be captured again. The only words you can hold in check are those not yet released.
Words, tossed hither and yon, floating around, bumping into each other. Maybe no clear train of thought, no worthwhile purpose. Maybe a sensible progression but they have no pertinence to anything but the here and now. They fill space, take up room, consume the ear, but only temporarily. Then they flicker, falter and vanish. They leave you walking away with nothing. You grasp for them, try to recognize the things you said and heard, to find value, to reconcile the time you spent with the empty feeling you now carry, to appreciate what was put out by you and others. But it does no good, because you are grasping at air. Nonsense, light-hearted randomness, it's often fun and makes you laugh. You throw words into the air, joke, tease, talk...but they are surface and shallow only. What was the reason for them? Was there even one? All words do not require great forethought, depth and substance, and these may do no harm...but they do no good... So it leads you to question why you bring them forward, why you spend precious moments that accumulate into minutes, hours of your life on something that leaves no reward, adds no value to the world around you, has little if any relevance for life beyond these moments, that causes you to walk away having lost something. You can never take back time and what was lacking in your words cannot be brought back to be filled.
Words, pleasant, uplifting and golden, bringing harmony and touching everything to send it soaring skyward, lightened and inspired. It builds one up to hear them, and even more to say them, bringing inspiration and refreshment. They touch you and radiate life. You can see the rainbows of hope that sparkle and glow from words designed to avail and profit. Kind, genuine, cordial, agreeable, generous, mindful, respectful, supportive, considerate, prudent...do you know the joy of heart favorable words can bring? Have you a glimpse of the good you can do when you use words for the betterment of others? The potential that edifying words can bring is sometimes almost unfathomable. They do so much to build relationships, hearten the doubting, refresh the weary, fortify the breaking and cheer the heavy-hearted. Use them...seize them...embrace them! You know what they can do. But how often they are overlooked because it's easy not to be intentional and alive to what is said. There is a hunger and yearning for approval and affirmation everywhere around you. You have tremendous opportunity to encourage and strengthen others. Do you do it? Don't forfeit the moment to bolster those around you. You never know what such words will do and the reach they may have beyond what you could imagine.
...your words...my words...what have they been? What will they be...
